Sheila Didi : 1928-2011

Sheila Didi-New Delhi-Nov11-Pic Amarjit Chandan.jpg

Sheila’s last portrait by Amarjit Chandan. New Delhi. Nov 2011

Sheila Didi, who has died aged 83 in Chandigarh, was one of the most prominent women political activists of the post -1947 East Punjab.

She was born in Nairobi on August 5, 1928, to parents active in the Arya Samaj movement. Her father Lal Chand Sharma was jailed in 1914 at a very young age in Mombasa for anti-British activities.

Sheila graduated from Cardiff University, Wales and was enrolled at the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn London between 1948-56. During the time she was influenced by Indian communist movement and left bright career in London began working among industrial workers and landless farm workers in Ludhiana in 1956. The following year she married her comrade, Madan Lal Didi, a labour organiser and poet writing in Punjabi and Urdu and a close friend of Sahir Ludhianvi.

The couple moved in 1966 to Chandigarh where Sheila worked passionately for workers and women’s rights.

She was, presently, president of the Punjab Istri Sabha a front organisation of the CPI, trustee of the Aruna Asaf Ali Trust, [East] Punjab. She was a nominee for the 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

She was one of first three woman lawyers at the Punjab & Haryana High Court. One of her most significant legal successes was her fight for the women in the ‘Jeb Katri’ case. (The Patiala police had tattooed Jeb katri - I’m a pick pocket - on their foreheads. Later they were given a large sum compensation etc.)

Sheila is survived by her three brothers - one of them Visho Sharma emeritus professor of sociology in Michigan university - and a sister who all live abroad. Her daughter Poonam Singh is editor Preetlari, son Rahul Diddi lives and works between the US and Russia, and daughter Shumita who works as a cultural activist running Sãnjhey Rung Punjab dé - an organisation dedicated to the cause of common heritage of the united Punjab.

Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna, Sheila Didi, Oshima Rekhi, Amarjit Chandan and Jaswant Gill. Preet Milni. Amritsar. May 1967. Photo by Prabhat Studio Amritsar.jpg

From right Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna founder President of the Ghadar Party, Sheila Didi and Oshima Raikhy. Back row from right Jaswant Kaur Gill and Amarjit Chandan. Preet Milni Amritsar, 1967. Photo by Prabhat Studio Hall Bazar Amritsar

Author Nirupama Dutt said in 1975, when she was studying in Panjab University Chandigarh, Madan and Sheila were a celebrated couple. Hailing from an affluent family, she had married a labour leader earning Rs 15 a month. “They were committed activists, living a sort of Bohemian life, unlike what we saw in out middle class homes,” she recalls. •